About 70 percent to 80 percent of the new positions would be civilian. No one knows yet how many would be hired locally. Only about a third of the 24th Air Force personnel work in the San Antonio area.

“The key point is that it signals the importance and criticality of cyber-security to the entire Air Force, and it underscores what's been said before that cyber-security and intelligence, surveillance and reconnaissance (both core missions with headquarters here in San Antonio) are viewed as 'growth areas' by the Air Force leadership,” Mock wrote. “This is good news for San Antonio.”

John Dickson, principal at San Antonio's Denim Group Ltd., added: “The Space Command is viewing cyber-security as a foundational activity — you cannot do without it.”

But the future of the San Antonio's military community in general, including its contractors, remains shaky as long as Congress doesn't act decisively on short- and long-term budget issues. The March 1 deadline looms large for San Antonio's military missions.

Military units are planning for sudden budget cuts of up to 30 percent, Dickson said.

“It ain't pretty,” he said. “One of the fears is that the cuts will fall disproportionately on the contracting community. There would be a bigger effect here.”

If contractors lose work, “Everyone will find out how much of the missions the contractors actually deliver,” he warned.

The possibility of military spending cuts “is very serious,” Dickson added. “The people in San Antonio are not taking this lightly.”

That includes business and local government leadership. Greater San Antonio Chamber President and CEO Richard Perez and Mayor Julián Castro are meeting with federal legislative and executive officials this week in Washington, D.C.

The main message is the value the military missions receive by operating in San Antonio and ways the city is trying to reduce the cost of the military operations.

With a Pentagon grant, the city has contracted with LMI, a Virginia-based government consulting organization, to determine ways the city, county and utilities can reduce costs for area military missions, Perez said. A report is expected in May or June, Perez added.

“There's not a (base-closing) round scheduled,” Castro said. “But San Antonio has learned its lesson about being prepared.”